with him, and the old man was filled with envy, and he cursed the followers of Abbâ Poemen because of this. Now Abbâ Poemen heard of it, and he was vexed about it, and he said unto the brethren who were with him, “What shall we do for this old man? For the men who have forsaken him have cast us into vexation, and they have left that holy old man and turned their looks upon us, who are nothing. How then can we satisfy this old man?” Then he said unto the brethren who were with him, “Make ye some bread and boil a little food, and we will go to him, and will take with us also a vessel of wine, and we will eat with him, and perhaps by these means we shall be able to pacify him”; and they took the food and went to him. And when they had knocked at the door his disciple looked out and asked them, “Who are ye?” And they said unto him, “Tell the Abbâ that it is Poemen, and he wisheth to be blessed by him”; and when his disciple had told him this, the old man said, “Send them away,” and he said, “I have not leisure [to receive them].” Then the disciple told them these things, but they stayed there lovingly, saying, “We will not go away unless we are held to be worthy of the blessing of the old man.” Now, when the old man saw their humility and patient persistence, he repented, and opened the door to them, and when they were eating together, he said unto them, “Verily, the things which I have heard were in you are not in you, but indeed what I see in you is a hundredfold [greater than what I expected]”; and he became unto them a friend from that day.
556. On a certain occasion when Abbâ John was sitting before the church, the brethren surrounded him, and asked him about their thoughts, and when one of the old men saw him, he said unto him, “Thy repentance is full of sorceries.” Abbâ John said unto him, “It is even so, and this thou sayest having only seen what is without, but if thou couldst see what is within what wouldst thou say?”
557. Muthues repeated the following:—“When I was a young man I used to say to myself, ‘Perhaps thou wilt do something good’; but now that I am an old man I see that I have not done even one good work.”
558. He used to say concerning Abbâ Macarius that, if the brethren drew nigh unto him in fear, as to a great and holy old man, he would not answer them a word, but if one of the brethren treated him with familiar contempt, [saying], “Father, if thou wert a camel wouldst thou not steal the natron and sell it, and would not the driver beat thee?” he would answer him. And if any man spake unto him in anger, or with words similar to these, he would answer any question which was put to him.
